Welcome! If you are interested in “making history” – that is, researching and understanding the past – then this website is for you. Drawing on the rich example of nineteenth-century British Columbia, it offers a wide range of resources and reflections on the question: how do you actually do historical research?
These resources are intended for instructors, students, and anyone who wants to learn more about doing historical research, whether on British Columbia or another context. As you will see by the Creative Commons License at the bottom of the page, the website material is freely available for your non-commercial use, and you are welcome to share and adapt this material under the conditions of the linked license.
The work for this website was completed at – and with resources from – the University of British Columbia (Vancouver campus) on the traditional, ancestral, unceded, and occupied territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. Its content will continue to be updated and revised. In particular, I hope to expand the accessibility of the material on this website for a more diverse range of people. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me (Dr. Laura Ishiguro, University of British Columbia) at Laura.Ishiguro@ubc.ca.
What can you do on this site?
In the “Doing Research” section, you will find modules that introduce you to different historical research strategies. I recommend beginning here if you would like to start building your research skills. Specific modules focus on conducting library searches, doing archival research, using microforms, using digital collections of primary sources, and transcribing handwritten sources. They are designed to be used as self-guided learning experiences (if you would like to do this work on your own) or to be integrated into a course as an activity or assignment (if you are an instructor or student).
In the “Research Guides and Tips” section, you will find stories, advice, and further guides to research using particular archives, sources, or skills. Most of these have been written by UBC students who have used the module resources.
The “Sources and Stories in the Spotlight” section includes UBC students’ writing on their research finds related to mid-nineteenth-century British Columbia. As you will discover, these archival stories became highlights for students because they were funny, surprising, sad, or just really intriguing.
The “Library” section includes annotated lists of primary and secondary sources related to the mid-nineteenth-century British Columbian gold rushes. These lists have been compiled by UBC students. They are not exhaustive and I continue to update them.
Finally, the “Team” section explains who has contributed to the site.
The cover image (also below) is cropped from City of Vancouver Archives, AM54-S4-: Out P904, Gold Mine, 1868, copied from the original album of Lieutenant J.C. Eastcott in 1958. Public domain. You can find a digital copy of the photo here.
I chose this image because, to me, it represents the hard labour of historical research, whether this is done by digging in the archive or investigating the people in the shadows. It also reflects some of the diversity in British Columbia’s nineteenth-century history, while still foregrounding the people whose stories have most often been told in the province’s history. In this way, it’s also a reminder to me that there is so much more work to be done in making history in British Columbia. “Neversweat” it – join us!